Google is in the news.\u00a0 They are demonetizing and de-platforming the haters.\u00a0 And who are the haters?\u00a0 Whoever they say they are.\u00a0 And so is PayPal and Patreon and GoFundMe and on a less important front so is Facebook, Twitter and all the other leftists who are still smarting over Trump\u2019s win.\u00a0 If you make money from monetizing your website through Google advertising then this can be a big deal.\u00a0 If you have a YouTube channel you could find a stream of income that you\u2019ve depended on shut off.\u00a0 And it\u2019s not something you can appeal.\u00a0 If they shut you down, that\u2019s it.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve been reading on a few sites that alternative sources for monetizing and funding are coming into being.\u00a0 For instance a payment site to replace Patreon ( amusingly named Hatreon) now exists.\u00a0 Stripe and Square perform similarly to PayPal but haven\u2019t been banning rightwingers (yet).\u00a0 WeSearchr and Counter.Fund also provide crowdsourcing to the right.\u00a0 Gab provides a Twitter alternative.<\/p>\n
So, problem solved?\u00a0 Probably not.\u00a0 Google is a behemoth of a company that controls the lion\u2019s share of internet advertising.\u00a0 They also dominate the search business.\u00a0 And this is the way to control what gets seen and what doesn\u2019t.\u00a0 If they think your site is guilty of thoughtcrime all they have to do is make it invisible and it will dry up and wither away.\u00a0 That is a big problem.\u00a0 There are other search engines like Brave and DuckDuckGo and, and, and \u2026\u00a0 But most people google things they\u2019re looking for.\u00a0 What\u2019s a deplorable to do?<\/p>\n
Well, mostly wait.\u00a0 We should start using all the alternatives because we need to make a start.\u00a0 But don\u2019t fool yourself into thinking you can move a mountain with a teaspoon overnight.\u00a0 There\u2019s no magic bullet for 100 years of ignoring the problem.\u00a0 These institutions are entrenched and they don\u2019t like you and they want you to go away (meaning drop dead).<\/p>\n
One thing we can and should do is network.\u00a0 Find like-minded folks and communicate and support each other.\u00a0 If they sell stuff, look at it.\u00a0 If it\u2019s as good or even almost as good as stuff from the pod people buy it instead.\u00a0 And when you do buy from them let them know why.\u00a0 And if you have stuff for them to buy let them know and maybe they will.\u00a0 Support these alternative institutions and spread the word.\u00a0 Put links on your site if you find something good.<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s not all<\/u> gloom and doom.\u00a0 Look at the Dragon Awards.\u00a0 Only two years running and already it is a fantastic alternative to voting in the fully converged Hugo Awards.\u00a0 I used to waste money voting in that thing.\u00a0 And that money was then spent on feeding SJWs at the WorldCon.\u00a0 Instead I can vote in the Dragon Awards for free and have a much greater impact.\u00a0 And that is a direct result of the puppies (sad and rabid) standing up to the pod people and saying we don\u2019t believe you and we\u2019ll go our own way.<\/p>\n
So, there are cracks in the wall.\u00a0 And if you apply pressure at these weak points damage can be done.\u00a0 And don\u2019t forget, Trump isn\u2019t a friend of Silicon Valley.\u00a0 They don\u2019t like him and he doesn\u2019t like them.\u00a0 If he sics the anti-trust dogs on them Google will grovel pretty quickly.\u00a0 It will be interesting to see if the investigation into search algorithm tampering is resurrected.<\/p>\n
So be of good cheer and go out and deplore with a smile on your face and a song in your heart.\u00a0 Somewhere out there in the bowels of Google the pod people are beginning to fear you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Google is in the news.\u00a0 They are demonetizing and de-platforming the haters.\u00a0 And who are the haters?\u00a0 Whoever they say they are.\u00a0 And so is<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,4,6],"tags":[348,50,349,302,347,49,346,107],"class_list":["post-1446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events","category-sff","category-trump","tag-brave","tag-dragon-awards","tag-duckduckgo","tag-google","tag-hatreon","tag-hugo-awards","tag-pod-people","tag-sjws"],"yoast_head":"\n